Please Explain Cotton Candy to Me

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Austin Gisriel

Martha and I had the great pleasure of attending another Frederick Keys game with old friend and frequent commenter on this blog, Don Hoover. Readers may recall how we renewed our friendship after 30 years and met at Harry Grove Stadium back in April. Back when it was about 40 degrees by the end of the night. Tuesday was hot enough to give the thermometer a hernia trying to hold the mercury up that high for so long, but a brief shower passed over the park, delaying the game, but lowering the temperature. One of the topics that came up during the delay was the appeal of cotton candy, mainly, why does it have any? Cotton candy appears to be 2 parts food coloring, 4 parts sugar, and 6 parts dryer lint. And a stick.

It’s adhesive properties are so great that kids who eat off the same cotton candy stick have been known to require surgery similar to that which separates Siamese twins. I’m certain that four out of five dentists who recommend cotton candy recommend it as glue.

Now, the Golden Corral restaurant is advertising that it has cotton candy as one of its featured desserts. I understand the chocolate fountain. A chocolate fountain is a sign of an enlightened and advanced civilization. It’s invention ranks up there with the pacemaker or that credit card slider thingy at the gas pump, but cotton candy? Someone out there please explain its appeal. And if you can explain it, you’re welcome to regularly check my dryer filter.

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Up, Up and Away!

Posted on June 30, 2012 by Austin Gisriel

I’m becoming convinced that Rebel Park must be some kind of wild weather vortex. Last night we saw an event that topped even the Great Hailstorm of 2009 as the vicious storm that tore through Ohio and West Virginia reached New Market around 9:00 and interrupted a game that was almost as wild as the weather. The contest featured six home runs in 4 innings plus, but the game will have to be played over from the beginning and all statistics will be wiped out. The umpires did their best to get the game in, but when one light tower went out and a terrible wind began to blow the game was called and the fans began to scatter. This storm was pushing so much dust around that the exodus from the parking lot looked like Okies exiting the Dust Bowl.

Of course, last night’s stats weren’t the only thing wiped out by the storm. By what little light remained, those of us holed up in the press box and the concession stand watched as the unbelievable wind at first pushed our third base grandstand forward about three feet, then lifted it off the ground and carried it onto the field. It came to rest on the foul line, the very end touching home plate. At that point, it was agreed that those of us who were up in the press box needed to move down to the concession stand. Our players had all run to the Algers’ home which is just down the right field line. Unfortunately for outfielder Pat Porter, a limb crashed through the rear window of his car, taking a side mirror with it.

The storm finally passed and we picked our way through downed branches and lots of leaves to our respective homes. Back in the cabin where Al and I sojourn in New Market, we reflected on how much worse it could have been had anyone lingered in the stands. “Front Row” Fred would have definitely become “Airborne” Fred.

Front Row Fred, Missy, and Melissa survey the damage.

This morning, Al and I stopped by on our way back to Williamsport to inspect the damage in the daylight. When we arrived at Rebel Park there was Fred and his daughter Missy, as well as Melissa Dodge, camera in hand as usual. Our groundskeeper, Marvin was there. Soon our Team Meal Coordinator Becky Kipps came over. I looked at those folks who were looking at those bleachers, and once again I felt so fortunate to be part of a group of people who care–about the team, about the town, and about each other. As much as I love baseball, that’s really the attraction of the New Market Rebels.

Late word is that the game has been suspended and will be resumed in the top of the 5th. That ruins my segue, but improves the scheduling.

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Former Pitcher Dave Boswell Remembered by Pete Kerzel

Posted on June 15, 2012 by Austin Gisriel

I remember former Minnesota Twin pitcher and Calvert Hall alumnus Dave Boswell and I did not realize that he had died until reading Pete Kerzel’s excellent piece on the MASN website this week. Dave Boswell made a lasting impression on a very young Kerzel as do many different ballplayers on many different children. Our childhood heroes, whether they became immortalized on a bronze plaque in Cooperstown or only on a couple of pieces of cardboard in a shoebox in our basements, stay forever young in our mind’s eye and keep the child within alive. It is so jarring, therefore, when a hero dies; and so when these inevitable milestones are passed, there’s no shame in crying like a child.

Posted in Baseball in General, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Rub-a-dub-dub, I’m Done With the Tub . . .

Posted on June 7, 2012 by Austin Gisriel

. . . of Boots Poffenberger material that is. It’s taken me five months, but I’ve read virtually every clipping that fill scrapbooks and manila envelopes, that in turn fill a storage tub, about the life and career of one of baseball’s most colorful characters. Completing this task has brought me to the most critical phase of the writing process, as well as the most nerve-wracking and that is the proposal. Most publishers want to see a proposal consisting of an overview, chapter summaries, market analysis, and other possible pieces of information. It is the proposal which generally determines whether the publisher will ultimately accept the book and, therefore, the proposal has to be written at least as well, if not better than the actual book itself. You can afford a less than fascinating page or two or ten out of 200, but not out of 20.

The Boots Poffenberger archive.

Boots and I have spent a great deal of time together since January and I feel a definite obligation to bring his remarkable life to light. I mean, we’re kind of buddies now, and your buddy deserves your best effort. Boots will get that, of course as will his family. After all, they started me on this wonderful adventure and have been kind enough to lend me all this material.

In any case, if you believe in sending positive thoughts and good vibrations (the butterfly effect and all that) please send them my way next week as I hope to complete the proposal. Boots and I would appreciate it.

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Valley Baseball League Preview

Posted on May 28, 2012 by Austin Gisriel

I had the pleasure of appearing with Barry Lee, a popular radio and television personality in Winchester, on his Talk of the Town program. Barry, and Todd Thompson of the Winchester Royals, and I spent a little time talking about the upcoming Valley Baseball League Season as well as how each of us became interested in the game. Here’s a link to TV 3’s website, in case you missed it. (Make sure you click on “Episode 61” and don’t be scared off by its 28 minute length; we talk for about 7 minutes and we’re at the beginning of the show!)

This appearance marks my 50th year in television. I appeared on Romper Room in Baltimore back in 1962.

 

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Sky Surfer

Posted on May 26, 2012 by Austin Gisriel

I don’t usually write poems. For one thing they’re very hard to get published and for another, those that are published tend to make no earthly sense whatsoever. (Sometimes, a red wheelbarrow is just a red wheelbarrow.) When a poem does appear after my byline, it’s not so much that I’ve written it as I’ve translated something Nature shared. It’s amazing what the world around us is saying when we simply pay attention to it. Anyway, while planting lima beans in the garden this morning, Nature tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Hey, look up in the sky!” I guess Nature had been watching an episode of Superman. It then gleefully recited the following, which I have placed in a fancy font and color to make it look like a real poem. Nature then asked me when I was going to post something about baseball again, to which I answered, “Soon.”  (By the way, if anyone has an appropriate photo, please post! Nature just laughed at my camera when I went to take a picture. Hey, Nature can be cruel, too.)

Surfing the thermals, the hawk skimmed across the broad blue sky.
It rode those invisible waves higher and higher
Until it was outta sight, dude.

 

That‘s one of Nature’s beauties; It makes Its point and then goes on Its merry way.

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Men Are From Mars, Women Are Wrong About the 3 Stooges

Posted on May 12, 2012 by Austin Gisriel

If you want to see a side-splitting, aisle-rolling, tear-inducing, wet-your-pants funny movie, go see The 3 Stooges. Chris Diamontopoulos, Sean Hayes, and Will Sasso are dead on with their portrayals of Moe, Larry, and Curly, and several classic Stooges bits are either alluded to or recreated. . . . Hmmm, I can see that look on the faces of many of my lady readers–and you know who you are, Amy . . . Martha . . . the rest of you in the back, there–indicating that you don’t think the Stooges could possibly be funny. Well, you’re wrong.

Yeah, I know, you don’t like slapstick humor, but it’s not the eye-poking and pie-throwing that raises your feminine ire, it’s the wild and uninhibited nature of the Stooges that really bothers you. That’s because we, the men in your life, used to be wild and uninhibited, too. It’s what attracted you to us. We were young stallions racing across the grassy plain for the sheer pleasure of feeling our legs stretch and move. But one day, the wind carried to us something new and exciting–the scent of stallionesses. We followed that scent; so enchanting and alluring was it, that we followed it over mountains and across rivers–and straight into a corral.

Yes, we were wild and uninhibited, but what is attractive at a distance is often dangerous when held close. You want to know why we don’t pick up on your hints or listen carefully all the time? Because we’re still busy contemplating how it is that we ended up in the corral. We’re busy trying to figure out how we became domesticated, a concept so vile and odious to us stallions that its mere mention makes us want to run outside and put out a fire without a hose. And what’s the theme for just about every one of the Stooges episodes? Why that they can’t be domesticated, of course. That’s why we stallions love Larry, Moe, and Curly (and Shemp, but not so much. Poor Shemp; he’s nobody’s favorite Stooge.)

So, you know what we want for Father’s Day? We want to see the 3 Stooges on Mother’s Day! Women, turn your stallion lose and gallop with him to the neighborhood theater tomorrow, and I guarantee that all you stallionesses will love it, too. I mean there’s nothing funnier than a church bell falling on a nun. Trust me on that one.

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Off the Beaten Basepaths Episode 3: The Eastern Shore

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Austin Gisriel

As you may remember from my previous post, Al & I recently spent some time in Delaware. On our way home, we took the time to stop at a few baseball-related sites along the way which resulted in Episode #3 of Off the Beaten Basepaths! Please enjoy.

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Places We Have Played Now Includes Delaware

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Austin Gisriel

Our quest to play baseball in every state has taken a very positive turn this spring. We added North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida to our list of states in which we’ve played during our Spring Training trip and now we have added Delaware as well. This past week, Al and I got out to the Lewes Little League field, a nice complex and probably the most valuable on which we’ve played. Well, given the fact that it’s right on the water, the fields are probably worth $15-$30 million if you tore them out and built townhouses.

Al at the Lewes, DE Little League Field

Checking Delaware off the list means that we have played in every state from Maryland to Florida except for West Virginia. Don’t ask me how we’re missing Maryland’s Wild and Wonderful Neighbor; especially since we can see it from my house, but that’s something we’ll rectify soon. In the meantime, please visit the Places We Have Played Album by clicking here or on the link to the right and down. I’ve uploaded some previously unpublished photos of the ballparks in which we played during our Florida trip.

 

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Happy Reunion on a Cold Night in Frederick

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Austin Gisriel

Our trip to Florida continues to bring joy almost a month after our return. An old friend, Don Hoover, became a regular follower of our trip and often commented in this blog about our adventures. Thanks to that interchange, we became determined to reconnect and did so last night, at a baseball game, naturally.

I hadn’t seen Don in some 30 years, but as soon as I came in sight of the Frederick Keys’ ticket booth, I recognized my old pal just by the way he was standing there. It is amazing how the mind’s eye retains its connections.

Don, my dad, and me at the Old Pro Miniature Golf Course in Ocean City, MD when we were much younger . . . and warmer.

We caught up on family and soon the memories started flowing. We laughed long and often, to the point that the other two hundred people in the stands must have wondered who the two lunatics were sitting behind the Keys’ dugout. The years fell away and not because we were traipsing down memory lane, but because we were laughing and talking as though there have been no intervening years.

As for the game, the Keys won a thrilling contest over the Winston-Salem Dash, 7-6. Perhaps I should say it was a chilling victory, because the only sound that greeted the final out was that of chattering teeth and scattered cries of “I can’t feel my feet!” as fans tried to get up and leave.

A chilly night indeed, but another warm memory to which Don and I have vowed to add to again.

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